Area Parks Named For Community Leaders, Other People Of Influence

Some parks in our area are named for business and community leaders and developers:

George P. Coleman Park (West Palm Beach): Originally named Lincoln Park, it was renamed for a local community leader and founder of Coleman Funeral Home.

Harry Goodmark Park (Riviera Beach): The longtime West Palm Beach lawyer, a pioneer in workers compensation, donated several lots for the park. He retired in 1992.

Robert P. Miller Park (Delray Beach): The Chamber of Commerce officer, who had been a teacher and baseball coach at Seacrest High School, first suggested the baseball park and helped build it. It was dedicated in April 1977.

Henry Phipps Jr. (Phipps Park, Palm Beach, West Palm Beach): The Phipps family, of steel, land and horse-racing fame, owned a third of Palm Beach and a large portion of coastal Martin County and built polo fields in Gulf Stream. The family gave 1,200 feet of ocean-to-lake property on Palm Beach to the county in 1948, and a park parcel on Olive Avenue to West Palm Beach in 1945. The family also donated part of its western Martin County stables for a park.

Gerry Schultz Park (Riviera Beach): The developer, who was also Palm Beach County’s first zoning director, gave the city the land for the small park on West 43rd Street.; it was named for him in October 1973.
George Snow Park (Boca Raton): The developer, philanthropist and charter helicopter pilot donated the land to the city in 1977; three years later, he and a news crew returning from the Bahamas vanished.

James R. Tate Memorial Park (Riviera Beach): Developer and philanthropist Frank J. Lewis, father of former state Senate President Phil Lewis, donated the land and the park originally was named for him. He persuaded the city council in June 1952 to rename the park for Tate, who was killed in action in Korea. The park, at Blue Heron Boulevard and Avenue S, was moved in 1966 to an area west of Lincoln Junior High, now Lincoln Elementary. Frank Lewis died at 93 in 1960.

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